Werner Christie

• Dr. Werner Christie is a former Minister of Health of Norway in Dr. Brundtland’s Cabinet sept. 1992- dec. 1995, and former chair of the Biotechnology Advisory Board of Norway (www.bion.no) and WHO’s Stop TB public private partnership. Werner is a Medical Doctor also educated in Social Science. He also has more than 13 years experience as a part-time farmer.

• He has worked as a public health officer and hospital manager in Norway, done research and published a textbook on the planning and management of primary health care. He has served on a number of boards for health care providers, investors and start-ups, including European Federation of Biotechnology ( www.efb-central.org ) and ScanBalt network of Biotech networks (www.Scanbalt.org ). He was for 5 years a special advisor in medical- and bio-technology for the Norwegian Trade Council (www.innovationnorway.no), and served two years in that function in San Francisco. He chaired the early development of WHO’s "Stop TB" initiative (www.stoptb.org), a worldwide public – private partnership against tuberculosis, from its beginning until it included more than 40 global organisations. It has since reached 1197 partners. He is from 2007 board member of the Brussels based Public Advice International Foundation, (http://www.pa-international.org/) . From 2008 he is board member of EduMonde SA, an educational media venture based in Malaysia, and member of the Presidium of the UN International Ecological Safety Cooperative Organization based in China (www.uniesco.org.)

• In 2001 he started his own fulltime consulting business, "World Health Connections", focusing on entrepreneurship and investment strategies in Medical and Biotechnology as well as health care development and advising both private and public enterprises.

• He was from May 2004 to Jan 2009 Science and Technology Counsellor for the Royal Norwegian Embassy, Beijing, where his work was mainly focused on energy, environment (www.neec.no ), building, medical, marine and bio- science and technologies as well as welfare and health reform issues. 2008-2010 he was Chairman of China operations and board member of Public Advice International, Brussels.

• He now lectures in Public Administration and management as well as Public Health at Hedmark University College and internationally, and is Chairman of Red Cross, Hedmark county and board member of "Future Health Foundation", Norway.